The leader of the Isle of Wight council (IWC), Jonathan Bacon, has hit back at claims made by Conservative councillors that he is “squandering any chance the Island has of securing additional funding from Government”.
The accusations follow the announcement made earlier in the week that the IWC had “taken its latest opportunity to make the Island’s case to government” in relation to the Fairer Funding Review which closed on 26 September.
Conservative accusations
Cllr Dave Stewart yesterday (Thursday) issued a press release saying,
“Elected members of the Isle of Wight Council were left to find out from a press release, that Cllr Jonathan Bacon, the Leader of the Independent Administration running the Council, has made a formal submission to the local government spending formula review, without him having had the common courtesy or common sense to discuss it first with elected Members or, for that matter, with the Island MP, Andrew Turner. Did the Administration even bother to consult with the Island’s business community I wonder?
“The full submission should be shared immediately with elected Members and published on the Council’s website so that everyone can see what has been said in the Island’s name.”
Conservative claims are “quite frankly ridiculous”
Jonathan Bacon, Leader of The Island Independents Group of Councillors, responded this afternoon, saying,
“The claims of the Island Conservatives are quite frankly ridiculous and once again show a total lack of understanding of how government works.
“Our officers are in ongoing talks with government civil servants as part of the fair funding review. As is clear from the letter in question, it was an officer response to a civil servant request for evidence as part of that review. The document has been published in full (see below).
“Whoever wrote the Conservative press statement doesn’t seem to know what they are talking about. Indeed it is curious that I had a twenty minute conversation with Councillor Stewart on Wednesday and he failed to even mention this subject, otherwise I could have put him right there and then.”
Conservative claims
In the Conservative press release – sent to all Isle of Wight media by Cllr Chris Whitehouse on Thursday evening – Dave Stewart continued,
“So much for cross party working and what a potential disaster for the Island. In case Cllr Bacon hasn’t noticed we have a Conservative Government and Conservative Minister at present, with whom both we and, I’m sure our MP, are hoping to meet at Conservative Party Conference in just a few days’ time. If the Minister asks whether we were consulted on this submission, it’s going to be rather awkward to put it mildly to be forced to admit that we were not.
“The so-called Independent Administration are all talk and no action when it comes to cross-party working. This time, they risk shooting the Island in the foot by playing what is a dangerous, party political game with the Island’s finances.”
Bacon: “Getting on with the difficult job”
Cllr Bacon added,
“The Independent Administration is simply getting on with the difficult job of running the Council through one of the worst periods of austerity in its history, imposed by the Conservative Government which Councillor Stewart and his Group support.
“We do not just seek to rely on chance meetings at party conferences and are more than happy to work with those who wish to help the Island, but it is not possible to work with those who would rather just throw stones.
“We will be publishing our new Financial Strategy next week which will hopefully show what is possible if you get on with this job in a responsible manner with the interest of the Island at heart.”
The letter in question
For the benefit of the Conservative councillors, the letter from CEO CEO John Metcalfe to Government can be found embedded below.
Click on the full screen icon to see a larger version.
